Most New Partners don’t even know they’re contributing to their biggest challenges.
They anticipate having greater influence and impact, and they enter the Partner space with a sense of empowerment and hope to effect change.
Without realizing it, they often believe they should be operating at the level of a Senior Partner from the get-go, taking on business development, firm leadership, and client responsibilities as if they have been in the role for years.
Many New Partners underestimate how hard the transition is. They don’t expect it to feel so overwhelming or realize how much this new role asks of them.
But there’s good news.
New Partners consistently expect more from themselves than their Senior Partners expect of them, and closing the gap between those two perspectives can help mitigate a constant sense of falling short.
The Expectation Gap: What’s Actually Expected (and Attainable) in Year One
Firm leaders repeatedly tell us they do not expect New Partners to operate at the same level as Senior Partners upon promotion. .
They want you to focus on the basics:
- Serving clients with high quality and managing the firm’s risk
- Investing in your team
- Getting work done through others
- Participating in proposals and expanding your network
- Taking care of firm administrative responsibilities without reminders or follow-up
To feel successful in year one, we recommend shifting your mindset from that of an expert to that of a beginner. Let go of needing to be a master at everything. Instead, simply execute on foundational work consistently well. Slow down, be intentional, clarify where your time and energy matter most, and delegate thoughtfully.
This long-game approach is a sustainable one that supports strong leadership, healthy performance, and well-being during a year that almost always brings challenge, uncertainty, and discomfort.
How you manage your own experience and expectations is just as important as knowing what the firm does and does not expect of you.
You May Feel Like You’re Failing (But You’re Not)
It’s easy to interpret normal parts of this transition as signs you’re falling behind. We hear these four themes repeatedly in our work with New Partners:
1. I’m not bringing in as much new business as I should.
Many New Partners believe they must generate new work at the level of more experienced Partners. When that doesn’t happen, they often feel like they’re failing. But serving existing clients well is a sign of success and often leads to new work and referrals, and the pressure you feel to bring in new logos usually comes from yourself, not your firm.
2. I don’t fully understand what’s happening in Partner meetings.
It’s completely normal to sit in Partner meetings and feel like you’re missing key points of reference and important context. You may interpret this as being inadequate or unprepared (or not “business-savvy” enough), but you’re new to these conversations and the Senior Partners have years of history, experience, and context you don’t. This is part of the New Partner learning curve, and now it’s your turn to build experience and context of your own.
3. Clients still call the old Partner instead of me.
Taking over client relationships rarely happens overnight. Many clients have worked with their previous Partner for decades, and the outgoing Partner may also be struggling to let go. Although these factors can slow the transition, they are not a reflection of your capability.
Proactive check-ins and a clear, mutually agreed upon transition plan will help clients shift their attention to you. Open and on-going communication with the outgoing Partner supports a smoother handoff and gives everyone the time needed to adjust with clarity and confidence.
4. I can’t keep up with all the work.
Many New Partners feel like they can’t keep up with their new responsibilities. They may not be able to effect the change they wanted as soon as they’d like. They may interpret this as not doing well or not being good enough. This feeling usually reflects the expectation gap between what New Partners demand of themselves and what the firm actually expects in year one. Leaders understand that the transition is challenging and takes time to learn and settle into. They do not expect you to operate at the level of a more experienced Partner.
This first year feels especially difficult because you’ve been the best of the best, and now you’re shifting from expert to beginner again.
You may misinterpret the discomfort of re-orienting and gaining clarity as inadequacy. This can feel isolating and overwhelming, unless you learn to adjust your expectations, practice self care, and ask for help.
The Power of Support, Self-Care, Coaching, and Community
We see New Partners thrive when they have consistent support, accountability, and space for self-care and reflection. Our personal experience and our 2025 New Partner Experience Survey confirm the most successful transitions include:
- Coaching to help you reflect, realign, and reset your mindset
- A cohort of peers to normalize your experience
- Mentors who help you navigate context and nuance
- Accountability partners who support your commitments
- Creating time for experiences that nourish you personally
- Practicing connecting with yourself and your values
In this profession, the default answer to an increase in demands is to work harder and longer. As a manager, that may have worked (at least, for a time), but as a New Partner, that approach is unsustainable. You simply cannot outwork the learning curve of your new role.
It seems counterintuitive, but what you need is to slow down. Try setting less goals, not more, and seeking more support, not less. Many New Partners are skeptical when we first posit this approach. They voice concerns like:
- Do we really need this?
- We’re too busy. We already have too much on our plates.
- How are we going to make space for this?
- I can do this on my own, if I just keep pushing.
But after a few days of practicing a less-is-more approach, New Partners usually find a sense of clarity and agency. They are able to show up fully, with vulnerability, in order to create sustainable goals that get them through their first year (or two or three!) with their time, energy, and confidence intact.
While it may seem to many New Partners that success requires mastery and pushing yourself to be and do everything, it’s really about beginning again – adjusting your expectations of yourself, taking care of yourself, and asking for help. Shifting to this beginner’s mindset will help you feel like you’re succeeding rather than drowning, and many Partners in our programs said their biggest takeaway was learning the importance of and how to make time for themselves.
Self-care practices help you feel grounded and connected, especially when you question or doubt your abilities. Without them, it becomes easier to feel overwhelmed or out of control. Even simple routines of self-reflection and checking in help you discern what’s most important (and what’s not) and navigate this change with more stability.
The Beginner’s Mindset
While making Partner may feel like crossing a finish line, you’re also starting a whole new race. Your mindset and habits must realign in order to maintain the hopefulness you felt upon your promotion.
The truth about the first few years of Partnership is:
It will be hard.
It will be messy.
You will make mistakes.
You will wrestle with letting go.
You will struggle to trust your team.
The most important shift is accepting you are supposed to feel like a beginner. This is the time to lean into curiosity, slow down, take care of yourself, and ask for help from your cohort, mentors, and the Partners who’ve been through this before.
What Helps New Partners Thrive
As you are gaining experience and insight, building relationships, and scaling the New Partner learning curve, it’s imperative to get curious and reach out for support. Coaching, peer groups, and mentors help you navigate this transition and reduce feelings of disappointment and foundering while increasing feelings of confidence, belonging, and direction. Foundational self-care practices keep you steady during a demanding year, and focusing on fewer, more meaningful goals creates the space you need to learn and adjust.
Many New Partners try to navigate this year alone, but slowing down and inviting support leads to greater clarity and increased bandwidth. To feel successful as a New Partner, adjust your expectations of yourself to align with actually being a New Partner.
This path can shift the first year from feeling like an exhausting struggle to a scalable foundation you can build on for many years to come.
See you in the DoP,
